Done driving to the Alps

My first attempt at driving to the Alps, where I spent two weeks: the
first in Alpe d'Huez, the second in Mottaret.

As I was driving alone I took it easy with an overnight stop in Dijon
at a Villages Hotel. Total driving time was about 11.5-12 hours
outward and return, which included crawling in some heavy traffic and
the odd stop.

Next time I would probably try to do it in one day, but with longer
stops - I generally only stopped for long enough to refuel, eat and
briefly stretch my legs.

I didn't push the speed, keeping generally to about 110KPH simply
because a big 4x4 starts getting thirsty if you go faster. I did see
up to almost 33mpg, which was acceptable.

Now the skiing: "Great!" just about sums it up.

My skiing has definitely improved this year; I'm finally off that
plateau. This is in part due the number of weeks I've done this year -
a record three - and the encouragement to try stuff I'd normally shy
away from. This latter mostly from Ace and Mrs. Ace, who were repping
at Alpe d'Huez. Great people to ski with.

Alpe d'Huez had just received a snowfall, so conditions on piste were
great at the start of the week, though the blazing sunshine caused the
snow to get harder towards the end of the week.

I don't know enough about cff-piste conditions to give an accurate
picture, but the powder was generally slightly heavy and high winds
had created areas of slab. This I found to be um, entertaining, to ski
on. Instruction needed there.

Week two was in Meribel-Mottaret. The weather was somewhat patchier
but the upside was that snow was plentiful. It did get quite slushy in
the afternoon lower down, however.

This week I generally skied by myself or with the members of the
chalet, so only went out with the Meribel rep Alexandre Parr once.

I finally did the runs I'd seen from various chair lifts in Val
Thorens a couple of years back, in fact, I enjoyed them so much I
promptly did them again! I also got to visit the fourth valley but in
keeping with my previous explorations of the 3V area, it was foggy and
overcast in the fourth valley despite the blazing sunshine in Val
Thorens.

Having worn an avalanche transceiver for the first time the previous
week, I visited the "Avalanch' Camp" they were running in Meribel.
This comprises a training area dotted with buried targets, which are
controlled from a central panel. I only had one target to find and
needed a hint from the operator, but I now at least have *some* idea
of how to find a buried victim.

The last day I went out on the snowboard with the chalet hosts,
looking for kickers to get some air. I think I got the silver medal in
the Entertaining Wipe Out stakes - Gold went to a bloke who clipped a
snow cannon and did a full cartwheel - pity I missed it!.

Well, that's it for another year. Sniff.

--
-Pip

On Wed, 29 Mar 2006 18:39:08 GMT, Pip Luscher
wrote:

My first attempt at driving to the Alps, where I spent two weeks: the
first in Alpe d'Huez, the second in Mottaret.

As I was driving alone I took it easy with an overnight stop in Dijon
at a Villages Hotel. Total driving time was about 11.5-12 hours
outward and return, which included crawling in some heavy traffic and
the odd stop.

Bad form and all, but that driving time was to & from Calais, not home
in Blighty.

--
-Pip

On Sat, 01 Apr 2006 16:58:23 GMT, Pip Luscher
wrote:

On Wed, 29 Mar 2006 18:39:08 GMT, Pip Luscher
wrote:

My first attempt at driving to the Alps, where I spent two weeks: the
first in Alpe d'Huez, the second in Mottaret.

As I was driving alone I took it easy with an overnight stop in Dijon
at a Villages Hotel. Total driving time was about 11.5-12 hours
outward and return, which included crawling in some heavy traffic and
the odd stop.

Bad form and all, but that driving time was to & from Calais, not home
in Blighty.

Seems like no-one was interested anyway, judging by the lack of
replies ;-)

Great fun skiing with you, BTW.

--
Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
Ski Club of Great Britain - http://www.skiclub.co.uk
All opinions expressed are personal and in no way represent those of the Ski Club.

On Sun, 09 Apr 2006 17:56:34 +0200, Ace wrote:

On Sat, 01 Apr 2006 16:58:23 GMT, Pip Luscher
wrote:
Bad form and all, but that driving time was to & from Calais, not home
in Blighty.

Seems like no-one was interested anyway, judging by the lack of
replies ;-)

It's the only reason I posted a follow-up: to make up the numbers.

Great fun skiing with you, BTW.

Thanks, likewise.

--
-Pip

Pip Luscher wrote:

On Sun, 09 Apr 2006 17:56:34 +0200, Ace wrote:


On Sat, 01 Apr 2006 16:58:23 GMT, Pip Luscher
wrote:

Bad form and all, but that driving time was to & from Calais, not home
in Blighty.

Seems like no-one was interested anyway, judging by the lack of
replies ;-)


It's the only reason I posted a follow-up: to make up the numbers.


Great fun skiing with you, BTW.


Thanks, likewise.

Just because we did not reply it does not mean we were not interested in
reading the article. Personally I love reading about other peoples
skiing exploits.

We are driving down to Les Arcs this Thursday night and I reccon most of
the difficulties and stress will be getting to Folkestone rather than
the 9 - 10 hours getting from Calais. Usually over the Easter Weekend it
appears that most of Belgium is driving south through France, so I may
revise this on my return.

John